New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal has announced that the former chief financial officer of a nonprofit organization was sentenced to prison on March 22 for stealing nearly $115,000 from the organization for his personal use.
Peter Pflug, 56, of Freehold, the former chief financial officer of New Horizons in Autism, was sentenced to three years in state prison by state Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor, sitting in Freehold.
Pflug pleaded guilty on Jan. 22 to a second degree charge of theft by unlawful taking. He must pay full restitution to the organization, according to the attorney general.
Pflug was indicted in an investigation conducted by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. New Horizons in Autism, a nonprofit organization based in Monmouth County, provides services to individuals with autism, including through the operation of group homes, according to Grewal.
New Horizons in Autism receives the vast majority of the funding for its programs through a contract with the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities. Pflug, as chief financial officer of the nonprofit, was entrusted with use of the organization’s credit cards and checking accounts to make purchases for the nonprofit.
The investigation revealed that between June 2015 and February 2018, Pflug, without authorization, used the nonprofit’s accounts to make approximately $114,917 in personal expenditures, frequently recording the products and services as purchases made for group homes operated by the nonprofit, according to Grewal.
Detectives executed a search warrant in April 2018 at Pflug’s home, where they identified numerous items and home improvements that had been paid for using New Horizons in Autism’s credit cards and financial accounts.
